Mohism
Mohism is a philosophy that came into existence alongside confucianism, and has some similar concepts. Unfortunately, it fell out of popularity, and more or less ceased to exist around when BC switched to AD, and so not known of by many. Before then it was close to equally as popular, though less for the philosophy itself, and more because the advocates were so useful due to other services they performed. And some aspects of it moved to other philosophies, and the rest were just seen as too abstract for people to practice, and so died out. Mohism is interesting in that it corresponds very closely with smt's law alignment. However, its not clear if this was intentional. It was also seen as super advanced for its time, something that with a few adjustments could actually make a totally reasonable philosophy today. Understanding what mohism is, and what it is that chinese and eastern society in general isn't, leading to mohism dying out can explain why the games associate the east more veering towards chaos even though in practice people now often consider the west more individualistic. (And in the end its just because that's how it ended up.) Gods Tian. Like the Confucians, they saw heaven as the highest god. But unlike the confucians who saw it as an abstract spiritual essence, they saw it as more of an actual being. It had thoughts, although they were abstract self reflective ones, and it did not communicate directly with earth. Mohists used heaven as a form of ideal observer theory. They wanted to try to use logic and impartial stances to reach a universal ethic that transcended culture. And for this they argued that such a thing would exist in the mind of heaven. Since heaven covers the entire world, and looks upon all people equally, they were led to an ethic that was agent neutral, where your relation and good things you do to everyone was equal, without preference to people closer to you. This enraged confucians who thought your moral concerns were focused on your social relations. This description of heaven actually calls to mind IV. Since god is treated like an abstract thing that different angels disagree on what it wants. And even in the ending is more treated like an abstract mind that just reflects on the state of the world. And one which was happy to see that there was finally unending peace, with everyone attached to one standard and working for the community at large. The term tian also shows up directly in dsj, in the title of the new final area, with tian being the term they translated to empyrean in english for empyrean ascent. What exactly it is meant to be is ambiguous, due to not looking like a heavenly area however. Despite being the place that some law aligned figures are residing. So regardless the concept of tian is still being associated loosely with law. Note that mohist ethics are actually consequentialist like law, though this parallel may not be intentional. For this reason they saw the confucian's idea that morality depends on culture in some sense as relativistic and bizarre, and would lead to privileging one's own culture over others. And they wanted to create one universal standard that all cultures would have to appeal to for legitimacy, and then have the entire world adapt it and get on the same page. This lack of focus on individuality in favor of focus on uniformity and getting people to unify is definitely law in tone. They even have a creation story, though it was often meant metaphorically. In a prior archaic state, at the beginning of time people were born and lived on earth and all had different ideas and standards and cultures, and so went to war But a son of heaven came to earth to unite them and teach them one standard so they would all get along, and there was peace. But he only did this in a limited way, and it was up to people in the present to recreate this standard, and this time spread it across the whole world in a way that would not be undone. Calling to mind law's goal of a peaceful state that is unending. Ethics Ethics. They have ten precepts, divided into five pairs. 1: Elevating the worthy and inspiration from upwards. Again this was a simple explanation of meritocracy, and idea that the worthy and virtuous should be put in higher positions for those lower down to learn from. This idea exists in confucianism too, so doesn't need to be gone over again. In this case however, the difference is that they were implying that the has to be done in a way that would help ultimately create one standard, that should then be spread across the world. And so the virtuous have to be the icons for this standard, for other people to take inspiration from. The importance of a single standard to prevent strife from competition was stressed. 2: Inclusive care, and rejecting aggression. The first of these means that morals have to be''' done impartially. Everyone on earth deserves equal consideration in your moral estimations. This was actually seen as obscene by the people at the time, including confucians who in their role ethics insisted that you literally owed things only to specific people you were in relations with. They called mohists cold and inhuman, implying that having equal consideration for all people means that you don't even have closer relations with your own parents, or special duties to family. In practice mohists did say that since you lived with your family and not strangers that they were the ones who you should help more. But that this was not because you had special duties to them, only out of a sense of pragmatism. Rejecting aggression means intense pacifism. The ultimate goal is world peace, not only the prevention of all wars, but even interpersonal strife. At a time when war was just viewed as an everyday reality that people would do, they said it was wasteful and ridiculous, and should never be done in aggression, although one could defend themselves if necessary. With the final goal being ultimate world piece. Likewise, this logic was extended to smaller scale conflict as well, something they hoped to erase all of once people were on the same page and had peaceful mentalities. '''3: Thrift in utilization and thrift in funerals. Basically this meant that everything done needed to be done for maximum efficiency. They saw wasted resources as a grave evil, and likewise the extravagant lives of the rich as something unacceptable while poor people suffered. The rich should learn not to waste their resources on themselves, and relocate them to a more efficient place for them, such as anywhere where people were impoverished or starving. And that intense calculation should be done in a cold impartial way to determine where was in most need of the resources. Note that even though the meritocracy would exist, this meant that they were saying that those higher in rank would not be getting much better lives as a result. Mostly just more responsibilities. Thrift in funerals was basically them saying that dead people aren't alive to care about their funeral. And so expensive funerals are a waste that has no purpose. It was a focusing in one one form of inefficient expenditure, saying that rich people would waste resources on themselves even in ways they don't benefit. Pointing out just how unnecessary it was. Obviously this calls to mind law's intense focus on humility as well as the fact that when the angels came back to mikado they literally told the rich that this was going to happen. 4: Heaven's intention and elucidating ghosts. Heaven's intention was the standard used to justify the universal system that society must be built on in general. A derivation from the impartial will of heaven. Heaven being impartial due to existing over all beings equally. Ghosts were seen as existing and would punish the wicked. So belief in them was seen as necessary to keep people from thinking wickedness would go unseen. Note that although they thought ghosts literally existed, they were also making a pragmatic argument that either way, the idea of them had utility. So its not only morals like laws, but tied to the religious elements of it. Note that this justification for its ethics sounds similar to ancient of days in iva talking about how the dispensation of the universe is collective. Implying a universal vision. 5: rejecting music and rejecting fatalism. Rejecting music seems like an odd phrase, but in this context it meant rich people putting all their money in to things like expensive musicians and things for themselves at times when the poor were starving. Mohists saw these things as wasteful expenditures that were not worth the cost, and which could be focused on once the main problems were solved, but only then. And outside of that, any music or art could be done, but should be done more cheaply, so as not to waste money or resources. Rejecting fatalism simply means that people should not think that nothing they do matters, since this attitude would cause them to not try harder, thus lowering utility. So all in all, they were heavily focused on the goal of protecting everyone through the movement towards the creation of a system which would be self regulating, erase strife through unity, and ultimately be set up so well that it would never collapse. A negative here being that this meant that they saw conformity to the universal system as a new virtue that would have to be instilled. Which is of course a complaint of the law paths in most games. Do they go overboard with the pressure to get people into a unified self regulating society? Mohists often worked on ways to ensure that there were balances to account for when incorrect systems existed, and how to make sure you weren't accidentally propagating a non ideal one. Mohist consequentialism is the term for their system as a whole. This is not only the oldest form of consequentialism in history, a new explicitly defined one would not exist again for 2000 years. And consequentialism now stands as one of the two main moral theories. (Or three if you count virtue ethics in third place.) Unlike modern utiltiarianism, the focus is not on addition of individual utilities, but rather direct proportion to a few standards. These being. 1: Order. The "order" of Mohist consequentialism refers to Mozi's stance against warfare and harm or violence, which he viewed as pointless and a threat to social stability. It also refers to unity, and society interacting without strife or difference. He saw people being on the same page as necessary to prevent strife. And that this focus should be for each of them on the community as a whole. An overt horizontal collectivist system. 2: Material wealth. The "material wealth" of Mohist consequentialism refers first to basic needs like shelter and clothing. But to actual enhanced wealth once everyone in society is taken care of. 3: Increase in population. During Mozi's era, war and famines were common, and population growth was seen as a moral necessity for a harmonious society, due to villages literally often dying out without it. But this ironically also has the added note that total utilitarians note today that utility is raised overall if more people exist to experience happiness. And so an optimum population size in balance with the environment and society are seen as part of maximum benefit. Note that he did not consider morality to be directly based on sums of individual happiness. But one step removed. As a collective, morality was focused on contribution to the community as a whole, raising living conditions. Something he saw as a thing that if it was done would raise overall happiness and thus was good. And he morality of all actions was based on the results in terms of this utility rather than duties to any particular person. Afterlife Afterlife. One final point to note is their beliefs on afterlife. They didn't really believe in any other realm one goes to after death. When talking about ghosts they described them as living on or above earth, though hidden from humans. And same for gods. They saw this belief as helping people focus on this life, and the threat of punishment from ghosts for lack of virtue as helping them focus on morality rather than being lax.